Stofen Omni Bounce Flash Diffuser

JUST ORDERED A DIFFUSER,BEEN READING ABOUT THEM AND WAS TOLD ITS THE BEST THING SINCE SLICED BREAD.any experiance with it?any pointers on it ?for closeups they say it will evenlt disperse light on subject.i was told to shoot at 45 degrees most of the time,except low power flashes.im putting it on a sunpak 544.ill let yall know whats up with this thing.i ordered it from the company for 19.95 and 2.00 shipping.pretty fare deal.

Stofen Stuffin'

Just remember that the Sto-Fen Omnibounce will do very little without a reflective surface. Many people put the Sto-Fen Omnibounce on their flash and leave it there. However, without the reflective surface, you get a very similar light source as you do with a bare flash head.

This plus the fact that it'll suck your flash batteries dry faster than a vampire bat on steroids - your range is cut dramatically and your flash has to put out enormous amounts of energy to expose shots outside.

It's not miraculous but at least its cheap

Originally Posted by FREELANCE2004

JUST ORDERED A DIFFUSER,BEEN READING ABOUT THEM AND WAS TOLD ITS THE BEST THING SINCE SLICED BREAD.any experiance with it?any pointers on it ?for closeups they say it will evenlt disperse light on subject.i was told to shoot at 45 degrees most of the time,except low power flashes.im putting it on a sunpak 544.ill let yall know whats up with this thing.i ordered it from the company for 19.95 and 2.00 shipping.pretty fare deal.

I think the STOFEN became popular in the days when news photographers were shooting 800ISO film and getting in close to their subjects with a 24mm (less than 6ft) and the flash in use all the time. You can see the usefulness in this case:

- flash covers the 24mm lens
- cuts back the power of the flash (800ISO film & close to subject = burn-out)
- setting the head at 45° puts the light source up higher improves the quality of the light

In other cases -

1. If you're using fill-in outdoors at normal distances then you need all the power you can get so forget the STOFEN
2. Indoors with a ceiling I get a better effect with my big Metz CT45 torch flash pointed up at 45° + second head straight-on. (This is the real sliced-bread thing)
3. If I'm using pure bounce to get a natural effect then I need power again.

It's a useful accessory and well worth the relatively small amount of money I paid for it. But it doesn't work miracles.